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STEM Tuesday
  • Calculating chimpanzees
    STEM Tuesday — Animal Perceptions– Interview with Author Stephanie Gibeault
    March 26, 2024 by
      Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! Today we’re interviewing Stephanie Gibeault, author of Making Sense of Dog Senses: How Our Furry Friends Experience the World.  It’s a fascinating look at how dogs use their senses, often better than the people around them. The School and Library Journal said, “A fun, quirky book about dogs and their many abilities; great for animal lovers, young and old.”   Christine Taylor-Butler: Welcome to STEM Tuesday, Stephanie. I’m always excited to talk to a woman with a STEM background. Were you a science person as a child? Stephanie Gibeault: Yes, I was particularly interested in biology. I had all kinds of pets and loved observing animals in the wild. Catching them too. I would trap snakes and keep them in my tent or show my amphibian-fearing mother every frog and toad I could collect. I also loved fishing with my uncle....
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  • Choose Your Own Adventure stack of books
    STEM Tuesday — Animal Perceptions– Writing Tips & Resources
    March 19, 2024 by
      Choose Your Own Writing Adventure Did you ever read a Choose Your Own Adventure® book? As a kid I devoured those. You would read a few paragraphs and then when there’s a plot point—when a normal book would have the main character make the decision (and learn the consequences)—in these books, you, the reader get to choose. It might look like this: If you charge down the tunnel, straight into the dragon’s lair, turn to page 23. If you sneak around the mountain, hoping to slip in through a backdoor, turn to page 42. What if we could see writing like that? What if we could help students see writing like that? What if we could apply this to the challenge of writing to convey information? One of my greatest struggles is structure. Finding just the right approach to convey information. I know I’m not the only writer (young or old)...
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  • STEM Tuesday -- Animal Perceptions-- In the Classroom
    STEM Tuesday — Animal Perceptions– In the Classroom
    March 12, 2024 by
    This month’s books delve into the mysterious senses and minds of different creatures. How do they communicate and use tools? What kinds of sounds do they make and what do they mean? Can we ever know what they think? Endlessly fascinating, these ideas are sure to spark wonder and inspire more questions in the classroom. Here are a few ways to explore animal perceptions with your students. Beastly Brains: How Animals Think, Talk, and Feel by Nancy Castaldo Castaldo delves into the minds of animals like dolphins, dogs, and elephants to explore animal empathy, communication, tool use, and lifestyle through interviews and historical anecdotes. The book also mentions research from some great minds, such as Charles Darwin and Jane Goodall, regarding the behavior of animals and revolutionizes old theories through the lens of modern science.   Worm Jar Activity: In this book, Castaldo describes Darwin’s study of worms to determine...
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  • STEM Tuesday -- Animal Perceptions-- Book List
    STEM Tuesday — Animal Perceptions– Book List
    March 5, 2024 by
    Animals see the world differently from humans. Check out this list of middle grade books that explore various ways in which animals perceive, sense, and communicate. Detector Dogs, Dynamite Dolphins, and Other Animals with Super Sensory Powers  by Cara Giaimo, Christina Couch, and Daniel Duncan   This book features an array of different animals that use their “super” senses,from echolocation to electroreception to help humans tackle real-world problems like pollution and global warming. Examples include Cynthia, a pipe-fixing ferret, and Rosita, a goat who helps prevent wildfires. Each chapter features a different animal and also provides guided experiments for young, curious minds.     How to Talk to a Tiger…and Other Animals: How Critters Communicate in the Wild by Jason Bittel and Kelsey Buzzell   What do skunks, blue-ringed octopuses, and ladybugs have in common? They all use aposematic coloration, or warning colors, to communicate with other animals! Every page...
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Contributors

Photo of Kirsten W. Larson

Kirsten W. Larson

Website: kirsten-w-larson.com

Biography

Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA. Now she writes about both science and history for kids. She is the author of 25 nonfiction books, including the Robotics in Our World series (Amicus). Calkins Creek will publish her debut picture book, WOOD, WIRE, WINGS: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane (illus. by Tracy Subisak) in 2020. Originally from Virginia, Kirsten lives near Los Angeles. Find her at kirsten-w-larson.com or on Twitter and Instagram @KirstenWLarson.